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An aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repeatedly lied to federal immigration and FBI agents and submitted false federal documents to the Department of Homeland Security to cover up her illegal seven-year marriage to a Lebanese national who was the subject of an Oklahoma City Joint Terror Task Force investigation, FoxNews.com has learned.

Diana Tejada, Reid’s Hispanic Press Secretary, admitted to receiving payment for “some of her expenses” in exchange for fraudulently marrying Bassam Mahmoud Tarhini in 2003, strictly so he could obtain permanent U.S. residency, according to court documents.

Tarhini, now 37, was held in jail and at an immigration detention center in connection with his 2009 indictment on felony charges, documents show. He pleaded guilty to entering a fraudulent marriage to evade immigration laws — a Class D felony — in November 2009, and he was deported in March 2010.

Tejada, now 28, was never charged for her role in the crime.

“We did not charge the woman, and of course we don’t discuss the reasons we don’t charge people,” said Bob Troester, spokesman for the Western District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, which began as an FBI investigation out of the Oklahoma City Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement would not comment on why it took five years to investigate the couple's marriage.

As recently as five weeks ago, on Sept. 21, 2010, Tejada appeared as a guest on a Spanish-language radio program in her official capacity as a spokeswoman for Harry Reid.

Monday evening, Reid’s spokesman Jim Manley said Tejada was no longer employed by Reid’s office. When asked when Tejada left Reid’s services, the spokesman had no comment.

Manley provided this statement to FoxNews.com:

“Our office was not previously aware of these allegations and, following an internal investigation, the staffer at issue is no longer with our office. The conduct alleged, which took place several years before the staffer worked for Senator Reid, was clearly wrong. But the bottom line remains that this story was a desperation measure by partisan Republicans, who have stooped to slinging mud about junior staffers to score points in the waning days of her campaign.”

In court documents, Tejada, who was also the Press Secretary of Hispanic Media for the Senate Majority Conference Committee, is referred to as “an uncharged coconspirator in the crime of perjury, filing false immigration documents, the crime of sham marriage.”

Sham marriage? With a guy named Mahmoud? Is there a Global Contingency Operation on Man-Made Disasters component to this story?

An aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repeatedly lied to federal immigration and FBI agents and submitted false federal documents to the Department of Homeland Security to cover up her illegal seven-year marriage to a Lebanese national who was the subject of an Oklahoma City Joint Terror Task Force investigation, FoxNews.com has learned.

Why, yes, it appears that there was a terror-related aspect to this case. Did Reid's aide marry a jihadi in order to allow him to stay in the country?

Diana Tejada, Reid’s Hispanic Press Secretary, admitted to receiving payment for “some of her expenses” in exchange for fraudulently marrying Bassam Mahmoud Tarhini in 2003, strictly so he could obtain permanent U.S. residency, according to court documents. Tarhini, now 37, was held in jail and at an immigration detention center in connection with his 2009 indictment on felony charges, documents show. He pleaded guilty to entering a fraudulent marriage to evade immigration laws — a Class D felony — in November 2009, and he was deported in March 2010.

Hmmmm... It appears that she did marry a jihadi in order to allow him to stay in the country. But, it's a high profile Senate staffer, the Hispanic press secretary for the Senate majority leader. Surely, she was held accountable for this crime of perjury, sham marriage and violations of immigration law?

“We did not charge the woman, and of course we don’t discuss the reasons we don’t charge people,” said Bob Troester, spokesman for the Western District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, which began as an FBI investigation out of the Oklahoma City Joint Terrorism Task Force.

WTF? Did Reid use his influence to protect his staffer? Was it a factor? Huh? Well?

Yeah, right. Okay, but at least it was handled quickly, given the nature of the post-9/11 concerns about terrorism, and Reid's and other Democrat's assertions that we were no safer under Bush than we were before 9/11. Right?

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement would not comment on why it took five years to investigate the couple's marriage.

Five years???? That's enough time to learn to take off, fly and land a jet. WTF? Was Reid at least smart enough to suspend her for the duration of the investigation?

As recently as five weeks ago, on Sept. 21, 2010, Tejada appeared as a guest on a Spanish-language radio program in her official capacity as a spokeswoman for Harry Reid.

WHAT??? Doesn't Reid understand that this woman was facilitating a terrorist's stay in the US? They know where she is now, right?

Monday evening, Reid’s spokesman Jim Manley said Tejada was no longer employed by Reid’s office. When asked when Tejada left Reid’s services, the spokesman had no comment.

This just gets better and better. Okay, but this happened after Reid hired her, right? I mean, she couldn't have had access to classified materials, or even gotten a clearance, with this hanging over her head, right? Reid would never have hired her in the first place with this hanging over her head, would he?
Manley provided this statement to FoxNews.com:

“Our office was not previously aware of these allegations and, following an internal investigation, the staffer at issue is no longer with our office. The conduct alleged, which took place several years before the staffer worked for Senator Reid, was clearly wrong. But the bottom line remains that this story was a desperation measure by partisan Republicans, who have stooped to slinging mud about junior staffers to score points in the waning days of her campaign.”

Yeah, right. Because partisan Republicans hired a woman who arranged a sham marriage to a jihadi in order to get him into the country, not Harry Reid or his chief of staff. But it was confined to Reid's office, right? She didn't work for any of the congressional committees, did she? You know, where she might have had access to classified information? Tell me that she didn't work for the Senate staff...

In court documents, Tejada, who was also the Press Secretary of Hispanic Media for the Senate Majority Conference Committee, is referred to as “an uncharged coconspirator in the crime of perjury, filing false immigration documents, the crime of sham marriage.”Fox

Good luck spinning this one, Harry. Maybe you can give her terrorist, oops, sorry, man-made-disaster facilitator husband an amnesty in the next Defense appropriation that you try to sneek past the voters. See you on November 2nd, Harry.

Sometimes the dems try to get so cute that they shoot themselves in the foot.

For example, in Florida there is a brutal battle betwen Scott and Sink. The Dem Sink has been accusing Scott of being dishonest. (Well, his company was fined millions for Medicare fraud).

But she has a lot of dirty laundry of her own. She keeps saying she's clean, clean, clean. Seems at their last debate, the little lady took a call during the break. She read the text message.

Trouble is, they weren't allowed to get outside messages during the debate. It was decided before the debate. Rick Scott saw her and called her on it with the CNN folks.

Now, remember she says how honest she is. First she said that her daughter was overseas and she took the call to make sure nothing was wrong. Then the hairdresser, who handed her the phone, said that she had informed Ms Alex Sink that it was from a staffer. Now she keeps sticking her foot in her mouth more and more. Go Alex!! Liars shouldn't throw stones in their glass houses.

‎" To the world you are just one more person, but to a rescued pet, you are the world."

Sometimes the dems try to get so cute that they shoot themselves in the foot.

For example, in Florida there is a brutal battle betwen Scott and Sink. The Dem Sink has been accusing Scott of being dishonest. (Well, his company was fined millions for Medicare fraud).

But she has a lot of dirty laundry of her own. She keeps saying she's clean, clean, clean. Seems at their last debate, the little lady took a call during the break. She read the text message.

Trouble is, they weren't allowed to get outside messages during the debate. It was decided before the debate. Rick Scott saw her and called her on it with the CNN folks.

Now, remember she says how honest she is. First she said that her daughter was overseas and she took the call to make sure nothing was wrong. Then the hairdresser, who handed her the phone, said that she had informed Ms Alex Sink that it was from a staffer. Now she keeps sticking her foot in her mouth more and more. Go Alex!! Liars shouldn't throw stones in their glass houses.

I would say checking your messages is a bit less dishonest than large scale medicare fraud.

I would say checking your messages is a bit less dishonest than large scale medicare fraud.

But I take it you're completely OK with the sham marriage by a staffer of the Senate Majority Leader in order to get instant residency of a terror suspect. Typical leftist you are. If you people deflected hockey pucks like you deflected situations like this, you'd be perennial Vezina Trophy winners.

I would say checking your messages is a bit less dishonest than large scale medicare fraud.

And then continually lying about it?

It's the small things like that, that show us who these people are. If their willing to lie about something as small as that, what aren't they willing to lie about?

We have the same concept in the military. If we can't trust someone to follow orders as simple as keeping grooming standards, or things like that, then how can we trust them to put enough care into the $30 million dollar jets they're repairing?

The little things show how they treat the big things.

Last edited by djones520; 10-28-2010 at 03:41 AM.

In most sports, cold-cocking an opposing player repeatedly in the face with a series of gigantic Slovakian uppercuts would get you a multi-game suspension without pay.

In hockey, it means you have to sit in the penalty box for five minutes.

But I take it you're completely OK with the sham marriage by a staffer of the Senate Majority Leader in order to get instant residency of a terror suspect. Typical leftist you are. If you people deflected hockey pucks like you deflected situations like this, you'd be perennial Vezina Trophy winners.

I'm not OK with what this person on Reid's staff did. I dont even like Harry Reid (at all).

I just think its ridiculous to say "Oh, its the little things that matter" when trying to claim stealing huge amounts of money isn't as bad as using your phone during a debate.

I'm not OK with what this person on Reid's staff did. I dont even like Harry Reid (at all).

I just think its ridiculous to say "Oh, its the little things that matter" when trying to claim stealing huge amounts of money isn't as bad as using your phone during a debate.

Little things do matter. They indicate character. In this case, Sink broke a rule and then lied to cover it up (and the cover up is almost always worse than the crime, just think Watergate). This tells me that she doesn't feel like she's bound by the rules, and that she feels that she can perpetrate falsehoods when she is caught at it. These are not traits that I would want in a governor.

As for the fraud issue, Scott purchased the company, HCA, in 1994 and the story about the Medicaid fraud broke in 1996 in a NY Times series, which would have meant that they were investigating practices that had begun before Scott took over the company. HCA had over 100 hospitals when it was purchased, and with Scott's other holdings, it was the largest health care provider in the world at that time. There was nothing linking Scott to the Medicaid fraud in a company that he had purchased the previous year.

Little things do matter. They indicate character. In this case, Sink broke a rule and then lied to cover it up (and the cover up is almost always worse than the crime, just think Watergate). This tells me that she doesn't feel like she's bound by the rules, and that she feels that she can perpetrate falsehoods when she is caught at it. These are not traits that I would want in a governor.

As for the fraud issue, Scott purchased the company, HCA, in 1994 and the story about the Medicaid fraud broke in 1996 in a NY Times series, which would have meant that they were investigating practices that had begun before Scott took over the company. HCA had over 100 hospitals when it was purchased, and with Scott's other holdings, it was the largest health care provider in the world at that time. There was nothing linking Scott to the Medicaid fraud in a company that he had purchased the previous year.

I dont buy that kind of shit. When you buy a company that big you're supposed to have a really good idea of how they do business. If you fail to do that you are woefully unqualified for a legislative career.

Again, you're comparing checking your phone to WATERGATE. The largest political scandal in the postwar period.